Science & Technology

White House ‘quietly kills’ NASA climate program

The administration of US President Donald Trump has “quietly” canceled a NASA program that monitored and measured greenhouse gas emissions، a report says، according to "Press TV".

The journal Science wrote in an exclusive report on Wednesday that the Trump White House had “quietly killed” NASA’s so-called Carbon Monitoring System (CMS).

The research line، with an expenditure of 10 million dollars per year، was scrapped due to “budget constraints and higher priorities within the science budget،” according to NASA’s official account.

But the Science report seemed to indicate that the Trump administration، which “has mounted a broad attack on climate science،” deliberately — and quietly — cut out funding for the CMS.

It said the White House had repeatedly proposed cuts to the budget of the CMS and similar programs، only to be rejected by Congress; but a spending deal between NASA and the US administration in March “made no mention of the CMS،” which meant the program would no more be funded.

Steve Cole، a NASA spokesperson، said “existing grants will be allowed to finish up، but no new research will be supported.”

Trump has repeatedly denied climate change. In June 2017، he announced an intention to withdraw the United States from the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord، which has been signed off on by 195 world countries.

Several US states have nevertheless said they intend to adhere to commitments under the Paris accord regardless of Trump’s position.